BLOOMFIED — A Bloomfield man cleared of charges after a police dashcam surfaced showing the 30-year-old pummeled and wrestled to the ground by Bloomfield police said today that he wants the officers to serve jail time.

Meanwhile, the mayor has alleged a “police cover-up” and asked the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the Bloomfield police Internal Affairs division and why the officers involved were not found at fault.

Marcus Jeter says he wants the officers responsible to "serve some time."Courtesy of Marcus Jeter

Marcus Jeter said he suffered cuts around his nose, bruises, swollen cheeks and a cut to his ear that required liquid stitches after he was pulled over by Bloomfield police in June 2012 on the Garden State Parkway.

Two of the Bloomfield officers involved, Orlando Trinidad and Sean Courter, were arraigned in Superior Court in Newark last week on charges of conspiracy, official misconduct, tampering with public records and false swearing, authorities said. Trinidad also faces an aggravated assault charge.

“I was so beat up and bruised,” said Jeter, describing being punched in the face and struck in the head by police after they dragged him from his vehicle. “I think they should serve some time.” Both officers have been suspended without pay since April 2013, their lawyers confirmed.

Mayor Michael Venezia said he was “outraged.”

The incident occurred June 7, 2012, when police responded to a report of domestic violence at the the Bloomfield home Jeter shares with his girlfriend. Jeter said his girlfriend’s younger sister, who was downstairs, called police after hearing an argument between the couple upstairs. The argument got heated, Jeter says, but did not get physical.

Jeter said he left the house via the back door, got into his 1996 Ford Explorer and began driving away when he saw an officer.

“He waves me to stop, I stop,” Jeter said. “He says, is everything all right? I say yeah.” After the cop turned and walked away, Jeter said he left.

Police accounts differ, however, saying that Jeter sped off, blew a tire while cutting through a fast food restaurant parking lot and then led police on a chase down the Parkway that ended in the controversial altercation caught on video.

Once pulled over, Jeter said he rolled down the driver’s side window at first but later closed and refused to open the window. He said he raised his hands and dropped his cell phone so the officers wouldn't mistake the phone as a weapon.

“I was really afraid. I’ve never had a gun drawn on me like that,” Jeter said of one officer, seen in the footage circling the vehicle with a shotgun.

Prior to being forced out of the SUV, Jeter is seen in the video gesturing out of the driver’s side window.

Meanwhile, Venezia alleged that a “police cover-up” took place and has vowed to “fight to purge” the township’s police department of “bad officers.”

Venezia made the statement on his Facebook page Monday, in the wake of an indictment of the two Bloomfield police officers on conspiracy and misconduct charges.

Jeter was initially charged with eluding, resisting arrest, and aggravated assault on an officer. Prosecutors dropped all charges against Jeter after viewing a second dashboard video.

“Like many of you, I am outraged by the police dashboard video and the fact that these charges were initially dismissed by our internal affairs division,” Venezia said in the statement. “I have contacted the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office to request an investigation of our police department’s internal affairs division.

“I will demand the immediate suspension of any officer involved in this police cover-up, and fight to purge our department of any bad officers,” the mayor added.

However, the lawyer for one of the officers called the mayor's comments "bemusing and quizzical" — and politically motivated.

"The only logical inference that can be made from your conduct/statements is that same was politically motivated," said Patrick Toscano, Trinidad's attorney, in a letter sent today. "It may be beneficial to you if you reserve your 'outrage' until after this criminal trial is held. It may also be sagacious if you did not abandon your municipal police officers so expeditiously, without knowing all of the underlying facts."

Venezia responded to Toscano’s statements by saying that he’s acting in the interest of residents.

“I am confident that 99 percent our police department is made up of good officers. And while I respect the legal process, I will not be intimidated or discouraged by lawyers or anyone else for that matter from doing my job, which includes voicing my opinion, notifying residents of my concerns, and taking action that is in the best interest of the residents and families in Bloomfield,” Venezia said.

Courter's attorney, Charles Clark, said today that his client would not plead guilty and would go to trial, because he's innocent. The prosecution is "misguided" on this case, Clark said.

"It's going to come out, and it's going to come out soon," the defense attorney said.

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray is pursuing official misconduct charges against the two Bloomfield officers.

The Bloomfield Police Department has been a lightning rod for controversy recently.

Two officers were suspended without pay in December, after being accused of bilking the town of time off while saying they were in the Air Force Reserves. Those two officers were reinstated by the township in January after some public demonstrations.

The chief, Chris Goul, took an early retirement at the beginning of the year, and the acting chief in his place, James Behre, was placed on paid leave earlier this month after publicly accusing a councilman of asking him to trade favors in exchange for the councilman’s support of making him chief permanently.